Monday, October 22, 2012

As we head into the final week of the regular season for N.C. schools, the Charlotte Observer high school Sweet 16 poll is settling down.

Country Day jumped back in. Concord fell out, after being upset by Hickory Ridge Friday, and Hickory Ridge spiked for No. 16 to No. 12. That caused some ripple effects at hte lower end the poll as a few teams shuffled up and down.

But after this weekend, there could be big changes as several huge matchups will cause change.Two top 10 matchups to watch are Butler and Independence for the Southwestern 4A championship at Memorial Stadium, and South Point and Crest for the Big South 3A title.

Also No. 11 Hough goes for the biggest win in its three year history against No. 3 Mallard Creek.All that likely means a lot of shifting going into next week’s poll.

12
comments:

Anonymous
said...

So, I'm guessing that if South Point wins, it jumps both Catholic and Crest and becomes the top rated 3A team. If South Point loses, it stays right where it is? That would be consistent with what's happened with everyone else this year. Either way, looking forward to the game on Friday, and SP finally getting some credibility from you guys, maybe...

That was kind of my point. I guess the irony got lost in translation. Crest and Catholic both lose to teams they have no business losing to, and carry those losses the whole season while staying in the top-10. SP only has the potential of losing to the #4-ranked team, but will undoubtedly lose 3-5 spots in the poll if they lose to Crest. Maybe next year this poll can make sense the whole season...

Catholic lost to Country Day. A rivalry game that is always close, as both teams are very even. To say they lost to a team they shouldn't lose to is absurd. Providence Day gave South Point their closest game of the year, and Country Day beat Providence Day just as bad as South Point did.

The #5 team in this poll shouldn't lose to the (just this week) #16 team, otherwise the rankings are off (i.e. Catholic is not as good as they're ranked, or CD should be ranked much higher). That's my first point--not that its impossible, just merely that on an average night, the higher ranked team should win. Second, the score from the SP / PD game may have been the "closest" game, but if you attended that game, you'd know that it was close in the first half, and then SP owned them in the second.

Ultimately, I suspect that SP will beat Crest this weekend, but if they don't, I'm just anticipating the 3-5 spot plunge SP takes for going from the only undefeated 3A team in the poll currently, to one of 5 3A teams carrying at least one loss.

I had the chances to broadcast 4 of Hickory Ridge games this season. Folks Hickory Ridge is loaded with really good players both on offense as well as on defense. I won't be surprise to see Hickory Ridge make a very deep run in the playoff this year.

Didn't realize they lost their best offensive player for the 2nd half. But look, I'm not trying to knock any of these teams. CD, Catholic, Crest, etc. are all good teams. You don't get this late in the season with 1 loss and suck. I'm trying to call out the disparity between what happens on the field, and how this poll gets structured--that's all. I've spoken out for other teams, like East Lincoln, for the same reason.

Don't get me wrong. South Point is a better than PDS in my opinion. Just was pointing out how the game went and PDS might have had a shot if playing at full strength. I agree with you on the poll. Extremely subjective and some teams clearly get favored for whatever reason.

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